"Grandparents are raising their grandchildren on Social Security checks. Aunts are turning spare rooms into bedrooms overnight. They get no training, no monthly checks, no support, just kids who need them."

When a parent can't care for their children because of addiction, illness, incarceration, or death someone in the family usually steps in. A grandmother, an aunt, an uncle, an older sibling, or a godparent. They become kinship caregivers, often with little notice and less support.

While foster parents receive training, monthly payments, and case management, kinship caregivers typically get none of that. They're raising children on fixed incomes or stretched budgets, navigating school systems and trauma they weren't prepared for, and doing it because walking away isn't an option when it's your family.

These children stay connected to their roots, their culture, and their siblings, and research shows they do better because of it. But the caregivers are exhausted, financially strained, and invisible to most support systems.

Your donation helps us provide what kinship families truly need: kinship wellness programs to support caregivers’ mental and emotional well being, basic needs assistance when children arrive with nothing or budgets break, and youth development opportunities to help kids thrive.

Charlene's Circle of Support Fundraiser